Update Information: December 23, 2011 (Updates)
Engine Updates
EnginMax 5.24 (UCI)
Win32/64
- transposition table rewrited from 2 cluster to 4 cluster system
http://sites.google.com/site/mychessengines/files
Supra 9.0 (UCI)
Win32
http://suprachesssystem.com/ (English)
http://www.suprachesssytem.com/ (Portugese)
Tornado 487a (UCI)
FRC; multi-pv; mp, Win32/64; limit strength
- this is only a bug fixed version (the quad bitboard mask for passed pawn vs king was wrong implemented)
http://sites.google.com/site/mychessengines/
NOTE: Komodo download page now has entries for single- and multi-processor versions, but still no download links
Chess News
Cutechess-cli 0.5.0 for Linux (WB/UCI)
an open-source, cross-platform commandline interface to run engine-engine games
Linux32/64
- no Windows or Mac builds yet
- bugfix: repetitions are not played directly from opening books
- negative numbers are not interpreted as parameter names
- new "restart" mode: by setting the restart mode the user can control whether or not an engine is restarted between games.
- bugfix: set the UCI_Opponent option with correct syntax
- "infinite" is no longer combined with "depth" or "nodes" in UCI "go" command. Now the "go" command should be compatible with all UCI engines.
- support for XBoard's "nps" command. The implementation was designed to work in combination with an infinite time control (which won't be sent to the engine). Using other time controls is not recommended. Also, the engine must support the "nps" command.
- the "cmd=" engine option accepts relative file paths
- Round-Robin tournaments with two or more engines
http://repo.or.cz/w/sloppygui.git (source)
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~ilaripih/bin/cutechess-cli-linux32.tar.gz (Linux32)
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~ilaripih/bin/cutechess-cli-linux64.tar.gz (Linux64)
ExaChess 4.1 for Mac (UCI)
commercial chess database program with built-in Fruit 2.1 engine
there is a free, severely disabled 'Lite' version too
claimed compatability with Crafty, so it might support WB engines too
- bugs fixed; re-released with same version number as former buggy release
http://exachess.com/
Kvetka 3.13 Chess GUI (UCI)
designed for game viewing and analysis; several plug-ins available; available in a portable version
- plugin "Options" updated
- main program unchanged
http://kvetka.org/en/
Scid On The Go 1.24 for Android
Scid database browser ported to the Android by Gerhard Kalab
http://code.google.com/p/scidonthego/
Down/Problem Chess Websites
Asterisk homepage down for 50 days
ChessAlex homepage is down for 3 days ("temporarily unavailable")
Damas homepage down for 89 days ("Free Web Hosting Discontinued")
Dann Corbit homepage down for 179 days
Wiki Changes
Nothing new today
Bonus Notifications (recent releases of free stuff)
Warnings:
- do not install unwanted toolbars, etc.
- alpha releases have new features; crashes and bugs are to be expected
- beta releases have new features; they may contain bugs or crash
- release candidate software may contain minor bugs; crashes are rare
Avira AntiVir Personal 12.0.0.872 Free
free; highly-rated antivirus product (nagware); recommended
http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus
Calibre 0.8.32
cross-platform open source ebook manager for all popular ebook readers with format conversion,
news feeds, and integrated e-book viewer
http://calibre-ebook.com/
Git 1.7.8.1
free, cross-platform open source distributed version control system
http://git-scm.com/ (homepage)
Groovy 1.8.5 & Groovy 2.0 Beta 2
open source jvm dynamic scripting language; it is a superset of the Java language
- version 2.0 is a *beta* release
http://groovy.codehaus.org/ (homepage)
HeliosPaint 1.4.5
free cross-platform paint / photo editor program
http://www.heliospaint.com/
LibreOffice 3.5.0 beta 2
cross platform open source fork of OpenOffice project; word processing, chart, spreadsheet, database, etc.
- this is a *beta* release
http://www.documentfoundation.org/ (homepage)
http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/testing/ (download)
PHP 5.4.0 RC 4
PHP is a very popular open source scripting language mostly used for web applications
- this is a *release candidate*
http://php.net/ (homepage)
Thunderbird 9.0.1
Mozilla's excellent open source email program
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/ (homepage)
VirtualBox 3.2.14
open source, general-purpose, full virtualizer for x86 hardware
runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris as host
install several guest operating systems onto the same computer
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes (list of guest operating systems)
http://www.virtualbox.org/ (homepage)
Meaning of Colors
Red = New or Warning
Green = Updated
Gray = Info Only
Engine List: http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:chess_engine_list
Chess News: http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:chess_news_list
NOTE: If you want me to track a website for you, please email me and I will add it.
ron _at_ computer-chess _dot_ org